1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control apparatus for a vehicle on which a running drive source is mounted. In particular, the invention relates to a control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle on which an internal combustion engine and a motor are mounted as the drive sources.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to improve fuel efficiency performance, there is a vehicle in which, an engine (corresponds to an “internal combustion engine”) is stopped when a predetermined engine stop condition is satisfied (hereinafter the “stop” of the engine is also referred to as “automatic stop”) and, the restart of the engine is performed when a predetermined restart condition is satisfied after the engine is stopped (hereinafter, the “restart” of the engine is also referred to as “automatic restart” or “automatic start”). Various technologies are proposed in order to solve various problems related to the vehicle that performs the “automatic stop” and the “automatic restart” of the engine.
For example, there is disclosed an engine start control system in which, in a normal mode, the engine is started by pushing a push switch while stepping on a brake. On the other hand, in a fail-safe mode at the time of engine stalling, detection of brake pedal depression by a brake sensor is excluded from an engine start condition (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-23919 (JP-2007-23919 A)). According to the engine start control system, since the detection of the brake pedal depression by the brake sensor is excluded from the engine start condition in the fail-safe mode at the time of engine stalling, it is possible to restart the engine without producing large deceleration while maintaining the running state of the vehicle.
However, in the engine start control system described in JP-2007-23919 A mentioned above, there is a possibility that the engine cannot be reliably started during the running of the vehicle due to deterioration of a combustion condition or the like.
On the other hand, the hybrid vehicle on which the internal combustion engine and the motor are mounted as the drive sources has a power switch (see FIG. 3) for switching between a “ready-on state” as a state where the vehicle can be driven (i.e., a state where at least one of the internal combustion engine and the motor can output a driving force) and a “ready-off state” as a state where the vehicle cannot be driven.
When the power switch is operated by mistake during the running of the vehicle and the “ready-off state” is established, a driver desires to quickly and reliably establish the “ready-on state”. However, when it is not possible to reliably start the engine during the running of the vehicle due to the deterioration of the combustion condition or the like so that the start of the engine fails or it takes time to start the engine, there are cases where it is difficult for the driver to realize that the operation for establishing the “ready-on state” is received. In such cases, it follows that the driver repeatedly executes the operation for establishing the “ready-on state” (e.g., depression operation of the power switch) until the start of the engine is confirmed.